The Global Innovation Index 2012

PPP$ 3,354.8 Viet Nam has a very
good showing, however, among the
innovation learners, particularly in
the Output Sub-Index (59th) compared
to the Input Sub-Index (83rd),
and ranking 27th on efficiency. In
addition, the availability of data this
year for the first time on tertiary
inbound and outbound mobility
revealed a weakness in the tertiary
sector. The main drop occurs in
pillar 7 Creative outputs (from 31st
to 70th (66th among 2011 economies),
essentially because of a fall in
trademark registrations and a relatively
weak performance on the new
pillar 7.3, where its best showing is
on country-code top-level domains
(ranked 49th).
Europe (41 countries)
Switzerland (1st) and the five Nordic
countries Sweden (2nd), Finland
(4th), Denmark (7th), Norway
(14th), and Iceland (18th) have very
strong performances globally as well
as regionally, where they are within
the top 20 globally on the GII and
its two sub-indices.
Within the European Union
(EU), among the 15 original EU
countries (EU15),30 six are in the
top 10 (Sweden, Finland, the UK,
the Netherlands, Denmark, and
Ireland), followed by Luxembourg
and Germany. The rest of the
EU15 countries—Belgium, Austria,
France, and the four Mediterranean
countries Spain, Portugal, Italy,
and Greece—have lost key positions
to some of the 12 countries
that recently acceded to the EU (the
EU12 group).31
The EU12 group is led by highincome
countries Malta (16th), followed
by Estonia in the top 20,
Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and
Latvia in the top 30, and Hungary,
Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria,
Poland, and Romania.
Among non-EU transition
economies in Europe, Croatia leads
the rankings in 42nd position globally
(26th in Europe), followed by
Montenegro, Serbia, the Republic
of Moldova, the Russian Federation,
the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia, Ukraine, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Belarus, and Albania.
See Box 4 for a review of the different
paces demonstrated by Western
European countries.
Ranked 51st (49th among GII
2011 countries), up seven positions
from 56 in 2011, the Russian
Federation benefitted strongly from
the adjustments to the GII model
(Annex 2). With a population of
142.4 million (the most populous on
the continent) and a GDP per capita
of PPP$ 16,687.4, this upper-middleincome
country comes second
among BRIC countries (Box 3),
showing a relative strength in the
three pillars traditionally linked to
innovation activities: Human capital
and research (43rd), Business sophistication
(43rd), and Knowledge and
technology outputs (32nd), a feature
that had already appeared in 2011
(when it ranked 38th, 37th, and 34th
on those three pillars).
Key messages and conclusions
1. A new dynamic of innovation
is emerging around the world
regardless of the deep and persistent
innovation divides between
countries and regions.
In 2012, the dynamics of innovation
continue to be affected by
the emergence of new successful
innovators. In all areas of innovation—new
products, processes,
business models, and
policies—different parts of the
world have come up with their
own particular ‘innovation models’,
including at the more localized
level in developing countries.
This is exemplified by the range
of countries from different continents
ranking in the top 20 of
the Global Innovation Index
(GII); it is also evident in the
impressive performances of
emerging economies such as
China, the Republic of Moldova,
Jordan, India, Mongolia, and
Viet Nam, (in order of performance).
Despite these positive
trends, large divides persist in
innovation performances across
the world. The GII confirms the
intuitive expectation that average
rankings increase with income
levels. Large innovation
divides also exist across geographic
regions, especially when
comparing average performances
across high-income countries
with those of other regions, such
as Africa and large parts of Asia
and Latin America. Among Sub-
Sahara African countries, a
few—such as Mauritius and
South Africa—perform well.
However, many other countries—such
as Botswana, Gabon,
Angola, and Sudan—are lagging
behind economies from other
regions that have similar GDP
per capita levels. The GII results,
however, also confirm that small
improvements in one or two
dimensions can have a positive
impact on innovation and related
rankings for low-ranked
economies.
2. Three groups of countries
can be identified by their
innovation performance in
relation to their income levels.
Among the innovation
leaders we find high-income
countries such as Switzerland,
Singapore, the Nordic countries,
New Zealand, Malta, Israel, and
Estonia. These economies have
succeeded in creating innovation
ecosystems where investments
37
THE GLOBAL INNOVATION INDEX 2012 1: The Global Innovation Index 2012